The basic service of an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network is the transport and routing (i.e. multiplexing, transmission and switching) of ATM cells. In current ATM technology, an ATM cell is 53 bytes long, including a 5 byte header that contains all the information necessary for network management. To process a call consisting of a plurality of cells, ATM switches examine the header of each cell and perform all the necessary switching functions according to that header. Thus, the network treats all the ATM cells in exactly the same manner. That is, during the same end-to-end call, all the ATM cells travel through the same virtual circuit, which remains unchanged, for the duration of the call.
As a result, in sending the full header with every ATM cell of a particular call, present day ATM services can waste much transmission bandwidth. More specifically, since the header of the first cell (in the string of cells for a particular call) sets-up the virtual circuit through which all the cells travel, the cells following the first cell waste bandwidth by carrying that same header information through the virtual circuit. That is, in a circuit-switching ATM network, the ATM cells that travel after the first sell contain redundant header information. Thus, by sending the header with each cell of a particular call, much system bandwidth is wasted. The present invention addresses this need.